Hi again,

Im writing from Sydney. We've been through Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia since the last blog so i think its time for an update...

After Koh Samui we got the boat & bus to Phuket on the other side of Thailand. Thanks to the Mason family Phuket was our first taste of luxury on the trip so far. Our own villa with hot showers, our own bedrooms, tv/dvd player and our own swimming pool! Superb. Our activities in Phuket were in line with every other place we had been to in Thailand so going out and partying was mainly what we did. Due to greatly enhanced living conditions we milked our stay in Phuket and realised that we were in urgent need of a visa extension. Our visas expired the next day so we legged it down to the Immigration Office to get a 7 day extension. When we got there Chris got in to a bit of trouble as his passport stamp was only for 29 days instead of the standard 30 days. This obviously meant that he was already breaking the law. So he faced paying the fine or jail. After careful consideration and a vote of 2 against 1 Chris paid the fine. The officer there was laughing as he was telling stories of people who had been thrown in jail for weeks and months and paying huge fines to be able to leave the country. I think its fair to say that he had a very, very dark sense of humour. Either that or he was a complete a*sehole. Probably a bit of both.

After Phuket we got the boat to Koh Phi Phi. On the way there i was sitting next to an elderly woman who revealed to me that she was one of the protestors that had been causing all the havoc by closing the airports in Bangkok. One side of me wanted to congratulate her for standing up for what she believed in but the other half of me was thinking please dont protest at Krabi airport as that was where our flight out of Thailand was in a few days. My comment of "oh thats fine i've already been to Bangkok just dont go to Krabi" was met with silence. The beaches in Phi Phi were beautiful, the best of the trip so far. They have that beach that they used in the film "The Beach". The water is beautiful and the fish just come up and swim right next to you. The place really is amazing and combine that with partying every night and its perfect. Phi Phi was my favourite place in Thailand. It was also the place where the 2nd tattoo of the trip was created.

So after Phi Phi we went to Krabi to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur. We landed and it felt strange to be back in a big city again, albeit a very green city. There is a forest right in the middle of the skyscrapers that we trekked through one day. It felt really odd to come to an opening in the trees and see a huge CitiBank skyscraper about 50 metres away. The Petronas Towers there are really impressive as is the Tv Tower that we went up in to see great views over the city. The only bad thing about Kuala Lumpur was the lack of nightlife and price of beer. I think we were paying about 4 pound a pint in most places! It was probably a good time to take a break from alcohol anyway after spending 37 days in Thailand. Whilst we were in KL we got a ticket to see the Football Masters. We watched the likes of Ian Rush, Bryan Robson, Ray Parlour, Viv Anderson, Shaka Hislop all battle it out to take home the prestigious Asia Football Masters trophy. Liverpool won it in the end much to the delight of the majority of the fans in the stadium. It did make us smile to hear "You'll Never Walk Alone" sung by so many people from Malaysia.

So after about 5 days in KL we jumped on another plane and landed in Bali. Bali was good fun and very cheap. It was the cheapest place we have been to on the trip. We were eating for about a pound each and i think a bottle of water worked out to be about 5p or something. Bali was also the place where we had our first surfing lesson. We all did well. It only took me a couple of attempts to get on the board and after that i was loving it. We were full of confidence for the next time we went out. However the next time we weren't so great. I think i got up only once. In my defence the waves were alot bigger the second time and my board was alot smaller than the first time. If you've seen the pictures of me next to my board on Facebook then you will agree that it looks like i was surfing on a small boat the first time. The sunsets on Kuta Beach are amazing too. Everyone gathers on the beach at about 6pm and sits to watch the sunset. Its cool.

After about a week in Bali we said goodbye to Asia and flew to Sydney. Asia has been brilliant but the lack of hot showers was starting to get to me, so the first thing i did when we got to our hostel was take a long hot shower. I worked out it must have been about 2 weeks since my last shower with warm water so i was nice to have a few comforts back again. The hostel we are staying at is really good and they are always providing you with things to do. We've been football training, we also entered a pool competition. So the game was Killer and about 100 people from the hostel took part. You get 2 lives at the beginning of the game and of you miss a ball then you lose a life. The prize was a $100 bar tab. We've been playing alot of pool over the last 4 months and it definitely paid off because i won. So we all had a very enjoyable, free night. Id love to say it was memorable. So far we have been to see the Opera House, The Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach and Manly Beach. We're here until the 5th Jan so we've got plenty of time to see the rest. Tomorrow is Christmas Day and we will be spending that partying away on Bondi Beach. Its going to be a strange Christmas but im sure it'll be one to remember.

So Merry Christmas everyone. Happy New Year. Ill be watching the fireworks at the Opera House.

See you in 2009!

Nick x